Monday, October 3, 2011

31 Days of Play! This mom loves music!

Beansprout and Guitar

As I turned idea after idea over in my brain deciding what I passionately wanted to write about for 31 days, I was convinced I had my theme after hearing about Dr. Stuart Brown's inspiring research on play. I watched his TED Talk, "Play is more than fun," and haven't stopped thinking about it since. I highly recommend having a look at it, as Brown is a wonderful speaker who makes his research on play accessible to all. Watching his talk really forced me to take a look at my own practices of play, and I felt especially reflective about how my own parents played with me as a child. Chatting with Matt, I came around to talking about my mom's love of New Country music. (Stick with me here, it does actually relate!) It seems whenever I'm in the car with Mom, listening to her music, she feels she has to explain herself; in our most recent conversation on the topic she equated New Country to Old-time Rock and Roll, but wondered if she shouldn't be listening to classical music. I realize now that what she really fears is that her choice in music is fun, but not necessarily grown-up. I remember telling her, "you like what you like!" Yet now I feel I have a whole new insight . . . listening to music is her PLAY! Belting out a few tunes on the way home after a long day at work makes you feel young and alive. Play at it's best. Thinking on all of this I understand now that this is how we played together (and still do!) Memories of standing in the kitchen at not more than six or seven years old, competing to see who knew all the words to Billy Joel's "It's Still Rock and Roll to Me" or singing together in the car to "Backwards" from Rascal Flatts are some of my favorites.

Guitar concentration

Today, this is my play with Beansprout! The play that I love. We sings songs together all the time and dance around the living room being monsters or airplanes or horsemen. I hope he has fond memories of these moments one day as this is the play that comes naturally to me.

What play memories do you have of your parents? Do they reflect the way you play with your own children?

I'm writing about play for 31 days! Check out an explanation of the challenge here and check out my other posts so far: 31 Days of Play!, Play for the Senses. Thanks for reading, I'd love to hear your comments and thoughts!